The tiger and the stag
Hermione aimed her wand at the large black dog, which most likely was an animagus. Which most likely was Sirius Black.
Hermione kept Harry, Daphne, Astoria, Millicent and Pansy behind her, but when Harry heard Hermione refer to the dog as "Sirius Black," she heard him give an outraged exclaim of, "What?!"
Hermione cursed herself quietly. She shouldn't have said the name of the person she suspected this dog to be.
It would get Harry worked up and react rashly.
But too late now.
The dog growled at Hermione and she kept her wand trained on the dog. If the dog so much as made one more move, she'd use a curse.
She had no idea if this dog was actually Sirius Black, and while she was far from using violence to defend herself, she still didn't want to hurt an animal. If this in fact, was not Sirius Black and just some strange stray dog that was following Harry for some reason, she'd just disable it temporarily.
"What do you mean, 'Sirius Black?'" Harry demanded, voice raising.
"Harry, calm down," Hermione said, then saw the dog lift its head up, the dog's eyes going huge, the dog's ears pricking back in fear and the dog's fur on its back spiking up.
Frowning, Hermione looked up at where the dog was looking.
Her heart stopped when she saw what was floating above her, her friends, Harry and the dog.
The dementors.
"Shit," Pansy whispered, looking up and seeing the wraithlike abominations.
Suddenly, something happened that no one expected. The dog made a lunge. Specifically, for Harry.
Hermione gasped, and though she and the others had their wands out, it hadn't mattered, since their attention had been on the dementors, by the time the dog moved and opened its mouth and wrapped its mouth around the pants of Harry's right leg, pulling and dragging Harry down to the ground, along in the direction of the Whomping Willow.
"What the-?" Hermione yelled, running after Harry and the dog. She heard the soft padding of feet hitting the mossy ground behind her, telling her that her friends were following after her.
Hermione saw the dog pulling Harry to the Whomping Willow, wincing at the sounds of Harry's cries of distress and when she saw the dog, getting Harry to the very bottom of the Whomping Willow, then disappearing under the Whomping Willow and pulling Harry with it, Hermione's blood froze.
No one could know about that. About there being a tunnel under the tree.
Except one of the Marauders.
That dog just had to be Sirius. And it had Harry!
"Come on!" Millicent yelled, running after the disappeared dog and boy.
Hermione was startled at Millicent's readiness, but nodded and followed after her friend.
Pansy, Astoria and Daphne chased after them.
"Everyone duck!" Hermione cried out as she, Millicent and the others ran for the small hole under the violent, moody tree.
Dodging out of the way of several swinging branches and jumping out of the way of a few clublike branches swinging down and trying to crush them.
They each jumped into the hole.
When all five of them got through the hole and dropped down at the bottom, crashing into each other as they did, wincing at the impact, they looked at their surroundings, seeing a dirt and leaf-covered path, leading to a darkened hall, and leading to stairs.
Hermione swallowed. She knew where this all went.
"Is everyone alright?" Hermione asked, getting up and checking with the others.
They all said they were fine and they kept moving.
They went through the hall, getting to the stairs, went up them, went down another hall, then found some more stairs. They went up them, and Pansy asked, "Where the hell does this lead."
"I think I know," Hermione said, "The Shrieking Shack."
"You're serious?" Astoria asked, startled.
"Yeah," Hermione said, "Remus told me that there was a hole under the Whomping Willow that led right to the Shrieking Shack."
She and the other girls had always heard of the Shrieking Shack, of course. They'd heard about it from other kids. Clearly a story that was passed on over the years. But they'd never suspected that the origins of those rumors, had come from a werewolf staying there three days every month for seven years.
Well, they hadn't suspected it till now, anyway.
The five girls reached the top of the stairs and entered an old, decaying room, covered in dust.
There Harry. On the floor. And he was on top of someone, aiming his wand at them.
This person he was aiming the wand at, was chuckling madly.
Hermione and the others went in and Hermione looked at the face of the person under Harry.
Her eyes widened.
It was him, alright.
Sirius Black.
With an ugly grin full of ugly teeth.
"Are you going to kill me, Harry?" Sirius laughed, as if the very idea of that was hilarious to him.
Hermione was at a loss, and judging by how her friends were gasping at what they were seeing, they probably felt the same way.
But Hermione was also confused. Only a few minutes ago, Harry was completely at Sirius's mercy.
Sirius had been in dog form, had grabbed Harry and had dragged him off.
Unless Harry actually was able to pull his wand out get Sirius to let him go, then have skill enough to change someone back from an animal form to human form? Then Hermione didn't know how Harry had managed to get the upper hand over Sirius.
Hermione had seen Harry in McGonagall's transfiguration class.
She knew that Harry didn't have the talent required to change an animagus back from an animal form to a human form.
He was skilled in other magical ways, she knew that. But transfiguration, was not one of his strong points.
He barely had the ability to change a mug into a goblet.
So, how had he gotten Sirius to change back into his human form? Unless Sirius had changed into his human form because he wanted to kill Harry with his hands, maybe.
But still, even if Sirius was a madman, wouldn't changing into a human form be too risky? Hermione was looking at Sirius's human form. And it was so skinny. He looked honestly, like a skeleton.
And as Hermione and her friends could see, a young boy of only thirteen was able to overpower Sirius.
Which meant that Sirius would. Have been better off, remaining as a dog, trying to tear Harry's throat out that way.
But he hadn't. Why?
"Harry," Hermione said, "Why don't you ask him why he changed back into his human form?"
Harry glanced at Hermione, even if he kept his wand aimed at Sirius. "What does that have to do with anything?" He asked.
"It might have to do with a lot," Hermione said, "He would have been able to kill you more easily as a dog than as a man. Why not stay in his dog form to kill you?"
"I don't," Harry said, shaking his head, his eyebrows narrowing, appearing to understand Hermione's question.
Sirius chuckled, "You should listen to the girl, Harry. I'm not the enemy."
"Oh, hey," Pansy said, looking down the hall, her eyes wide, "We have company."
Hermione and the others looked at Pansy and Pansy backed away, moving out of the doorway, as to everyone's surprise, Peter Pettigrew suddenly was tossed through the doorway, into the room, the rodentlike, rotund man dropping onto the floor, still unconscious.
Harry gasped, frozen on top of Sirius, looking stunned and confused.
Hermione looked at who had thrown Peter Pettigrew into the room with them, and her eyes widened, seeing Remus Lupin step through the doorway.
The group of girls backed away.
"Harry," Hermione said to the boy, "Get up."
Sirius's eyes went to Pettigrew, and his face suddenly was filled with rage.
Only now, did he struggle to get out from under Harry, and Harry, being so confused and surprised, allowed Sirius to get out from under him and Sirius got up, about to leap upon Pettigrew, when Remus said, "Sirius! Stop, the children need to know why this is happening."
"Who is that?" Harry asked, looking at where Pettigrew had been thrown.
"Peter Pettigrew," Hermione said, "One of your father's friends, besides Sirius and Remus."
"You discovered where he was?" Remus asked, looking at Hermione, amused.
"I did," Hermione said, keeping her eyes on Remus's wand, "Why did you bring him here? Are you going to kill all of us? Are you working with Sirius to kill Harry?"
Something wasn't adding up here, and Hermione was positive that Remus knew what the last piece was.
If Remus had been working with Sirius from the beginning, then hadn't Remus had the chance to kill Harry for ages now?
How many times had Remus and Harry talked alone?
"Not you or your friends or Harry, dear girl," Remus chuckled, nodding to Pettigrew, "We're going to kill him."
"Why?" Hermione asked, distrusting but feeling they were getting somewhere.
"Because he's a traitor!" Sirius snarled, looking at Pettigrew like he wanted to strangle the life right out of the unconscious man, "He was the one that told Voldemort about where James and Lily and Harry were!"
Hermione's eyes widened. Oh. If that was true? Then that would explain a lot.
"But weren't you the secret keeper?" Pansy asked, staring at Sirius, her face totally befuddled.
"I was," Sirius grumbled impatiently, "But James and Lily changed who was the secret keeper, because they thought no one would believe an unassuming coward like him," he sneered the word out, nodding to Pettigrew, "Would be trusted with something like that. That was why they switched who would be the secret keeper. And he betrayed them."
Hermione looked at Harry, wanting to see what he thought of this.
Harry was looking at Sirius, then down at Pettigrew.
He looked like he honestly just didn't know what to think.
Hermione couldn't entirely blame him.
Here he was, being told that the story that everyone had been told over the years, was wrong.
That Pettigrew was the one that had sold his parents out, not Black.
Sirius went on, "And when I went after him, the coward cut his finger off to make it look like he was dead. Then he disguised himself for years as a rat."
Hermione almost snorted. So, Sirius knew that part.
Harry looked confused.
"A rat?" he asked.
"Yeah," Hermione said, "You know how Ron has been looking for Scabbers? Well, there's a reason why he hasn't found Scabbers yet," she nodded to Pettigrew, "Harry, meet Scabbers."
Harry looked at Hermione, then at Pettigrew, mouth agape.
He clearly was trying to wrap his head around all this, but was struggling with it.
"How did you find out?" Remus asked curiously.
"I didn't," Hermione said, gesturing to Daphne, "Daphne did."
"I meant it as a joke," Daphne said, half laughing as she stared at the scene before her, still stunned by everything that was happening.
"Yes, you did," Hermione said, "But it was insightful."
Daphne didn't respond, just looking between Sirius and Remus, nervous.
Hermione went on, "After I saw the name on the Marauders' map? We tried to figure out how Pettigrew was still alive and no one knew about it. And we saw the names on the map. One of them being 'Wormtail.' So, we just put the pieces together."
Hermione nodded to Sirius, "And that would make you 'Padfoot,'" she then looked to Remus, "And you, 'Moony.'"
"Oh?" Remus asked, a smirk growing on his face as he realized Hermione had figured something important out.
Hermione nodded. "You're a werewolf," she said, "That's why you've been missing classes."
Harry was now looking at Hermione and then at Remus, as if his head was about to explode.
"Very good, Ms. Granger," Remus said, "You really are the brightest witch of your age."
"Spare me," Hermione ordered, "What proof do you have that Pettigrew is the one Harry wants?"
"No proof," Remus said, "But I'm sure you've thought of this question about Pettigrew, about his time as a rat. The only question that matters."
Hermione nodded. "Why stay a rat for so long," she said, "Unless you were afraid of someone using legilimency or a truth potion, and pulling the truth out of you, revealing that you were the one that betrayed your friends, and not someone else."
Remus nodded, smiling. "Correct," he said.
Hermione sighed, "And if you weren't scared of that happening, if you were actually innocent, why stay a rat so long, after the supposed threat," she nodded to Sirius, "Was locked up in Azkaban?"
"Precisely," Remus said, sounding pleased at Hermione's deduction.
Hermione nodded as she said to her friends and Harry, though she kept her eyes warily on Remus and Sirius, "I think Pettigrew might actually be the traitor, guys."
"Well, okay," Pansy said, "So, what now? I mean, I guess the obvious answer would be to kill him, but won't the truth die with him? Won't Sirius still be a wanted criminal if that happens?"
Hermione saw the realization on Remus's face and he sighed, looking at Sirius, "She's right, Sirius, if Pettigrew dies, the truth dies with him."
Sirius growled, looking like he wanted to protest but moved back, at Remus's urging.
Hermione looked between the men cautiously.
"Alright," she said, "I can't say I trust you two either," she nodded to Sirius and Remus, "But how about this? The two of you carry Pettigrew out, and you stay in front of us, and we'll follow you out, alright?"
Remus nodded. "That sounds alright," he said, and he gestured for Sirius to help him.
Sirius scoffed down at Pettigrew, but he leaned down and helped Remus lift Pettigrew up off of the floor and carried the round man out of the shack and down the tunnel, in the direction of the hole under the Whomping Willow.
Hermione, exchanged perturbed looks with Daphne, Astoria, Pansy, Millicent and Harry, and the six of them went out of the doorway, and down the tunnel, their wands aiming at the backs of all three Pettigrew, Remus and Sirius.
When all of them got out from under the tree and out of the tunnel, it was night out, all dark in the sky above them. And they dropped Pettigrew on the ground.
As Remus and Hermione kept an eye on Pettigrew, and Hermione and Daphne and the others kept an eye on Remus and Sirius, Sirius tried to get Harry's attention. Harry looked to Sirius.
Sirius said quietly, "You know that I am your godfather? I don't know if you'd want to, but after this, after my name is cleared, you can always live with me, if you'd want to."
Hermione sighed. So far, everything was starting to pile up to suggest that everything Remus and Sirius had said was true. And if it was, Hermione couldn't help but feel for Sirius, even if she didn't trust him. Locked up in Azkaban for twelve years, for a crime he didn't commit, after losing his best friends.
Even Remus had believed Sirius to be responsible.
The moment was ruined-of course, by a self-important, snide voice from behind them.
"Ah, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, back together again," Snape's voice sneered from behind the group.
Hermione whirled around, startled.
Shit, where the hell had he come from?
Snape approached, aiming his wand at Sirius and Remus, and even in the limited light, Hermione could make out the hatred from years of pent up anger and resentment, all over the git's face.
Hermione stepped back, getting her wand ready, in case. Right now, Snape clearly wasn't paying attention to anything else. Just to the people that he hated because of childhood bullying.
Which meant right now, Snape wouldn't be watching Hermione or the other kids in the group.
"Oh, Severus," Sirius sneered, "Always sticking your big nose into other peoples' business."
Snape pressed his wand to Sirius's throat, a cruel smirk on his face as he said, "I'd watch those next words, if I were you. Not that it will matter. I'll send you off soon to the Aurors. And perhaps the dementors will give you their kiss. It will be hard to watch, but I'll try to force myself to." Hermione could just feel the spite coming off of Snape.
Hermione kept her eyes on Snape and the others, but her attention was grabbed then by something else.
Light. Light coming from behind Remus.
Light of a full moon, beginning to emerge from behind the clouds.
"Oh, hell," Hermione whispered, her eyes jumping to Remus.
She then looked at Snape and snapped, "Hey, Death Eater filth!"
Snape froze and slowly turned to look at her, stunned by her words.
Hermione? She didn't have time to be concerned about Snape telling her that she needed to be expelled for what she said. She said, pointing behind Remus, "Now might not be the time for that. Look behind Remus. You know, the werewolf?"
Snape turned to look at where Hermione was pointing and she saw his eyes grow large as he saw the slowly emerging moon from behind the clouds.
A full moon.
Suddenly, Snape seemed to realize the danger they were now in.
Daphne, Astoria, Millicent and Pansy all saw the moon and with panicked expressions, looked at Remus.
Hermione watched, horror growing inside her, as Remus began to change.
Fangs began to emerge from his mouth, his face began to stretch, becoming more lupine, and Hermione almost laughed in horror at the irony, knowing that Remus's last name was "Lupin." His chest began to stretch out, his limbs became longer. His body began to stretch.
His clothes tore completely.
Hermione, she had never known werewolves even existed, before she had learned she was a witch and had read up on everything in the witch and wizarding world, and had read about werewolves too.
But even after all the years of reading what she had read, nothing had prepared her for what she was seeing.
Still, it took her mind a while to process what it was she was watching.
She was watching an actual person, turn into an actual werewolf.
Hermione felt her stomach turn at the transformation.
However, when she heard Sirius's panicked yelling and saw the horror Snape's face, most likely remembering his near death experience, involving Remus's werewolf form, Hermione snapped out of it, remembering several spells that were strong enough to knock a werewolf out.
Nodding, Hermione mumbled, looking at the transforming werewolf, "I'm sorry about this, professor," she aimed the wand at the werewolf and said the spell that was needed, a blast flying out of the wand and hitting Remus.
The werewolf whined loudly and dropped to the ground, unconscious.
Snape and Sirius both snapped their heads around to stare at Hermione, shocked.
Hermione shrugged. "Well," she said, "He was going to lose control, so I did something. But please, continue the pissing contest."
Hermione went over to Remus and leaned down, picking Remus's wand up, keeping it safe for the time being.
Pansy and Daphne, looked at Hermione, stunned.
Pettigrew suddenly came to, gasping awake.
"You," Sirius growled, but Snape kept the end of his wand against Snape's throat.
"Oh, Snape, get over it," Hermione groaned, "He's not your man. This guy is," Hermione aimed her wand at Pettigrew, watching as the unpleasant looking rat man's eyes bulged up at Hermione at her threatening posture.
"Peter Pettigrew," Hermione said to the rat man, "We're going to bring you to Dumbledore now." She knocked him out again and turned to Snape, who was looking at her, shocked and she said coldly, "You can get angry all you want. But nothing you do in the world will ever make Sirius Black the man that the authorities should really be after," she nodded to Pettigrew, "He is. Think you can handle that, Death Eater?"
She sneered the words, "Death Eater" out and she watched Snape's eyes grow large.
Just when Hermione was about to look at the others and ask how they should go about getting Pettigrew and Sirius to the castle, an icy cold wind hit them suddenly.
Hermione, Millicent, Pansy, Daphne, Astoria, Harry and Snape all shuddered.
But Sirius, he screamed, his eyes staring up at the sky at the oncoming specters approaching.
Hermione whirled around, and her eyes widened when she saw what Sirius saw.
The dementors were coming.
They sensed Black.
And they were arriving to….help.
Hermione looked at Snape and snapped, "If you give Black to the dementors before we talk to Dumbledore with Pettigrew with us, I don't care if you're the head of our house or not, I'll hex you into next week! And you know the worst part of that? You won't even get to see Lily again, because she wouldn't even want to be around you in death."
You know, Hermione wasn't even sure she had meant to say those last parts. But the sneer came out anyway.
And the horror that filled Snape's face as he realized what she'd been told by clearly one Marauder or another, filled Hermione with a joy she knew she should never feel. But did anyway.
Hermione looked at the terrified and shocked other teenagers and said, "Get behind me and Harry."
She looked at the confused Harry, "We know how to summon patronuses, Harry." She nodded to Sirius, Daphne, Astoria, Millicent and Pansy, "We have to protect them. And they're after your godfather."
Those last words got Harry into motivation. He nodded and brought his wand up, standing next to Hermione protectively in front of the others.
As the gruesome specters floated ever-closer, the air around Hermione and Harry, growing colder and colder, Hermione focused with everything she had on her happiest memories. Her painfully happy memories.
She imagined Harry was doing the same, because when both Hermione and Harry said the words, "Expecto patronum!" both their wands lit up at the end and white poured out of both wands, taking shape and the light pushing at the dementors, glowing, besieging the dementors, and tearing each wretched dementor to shred as the two glowing, powerful patronuses, one a mighty and ferocious tiger and one an elegant and noble stag, evaporating each dementor they crossed.
What dementors that were left? Fled the scene, flying away fast.
The tiger and the stag walked out on air proudly, and glowed one last time, and when there were no longer any dementors to speak of, the light died down and disappeared slowly.
Hermione breathed out, smiling, glad that she could actually summon a real patronus against real dementors.
She turned to Harry, and he had an equally shocked and euphoric look on his face, like they both had just succeeded in scaling the most dangerous mountain in the world and survived.
"You alright, Harry?" She asked.
Harry smiled, "I'm alright. Are you alright, Hermione?"
Hermione grinned, "Never been better."
That was probably a lie, but she'd be damned if that didn't feel good to do.
The witch and wizard turned to the rest of their companions, and even in the dark, they could see Daphne, Astoria, Pansy, Millicent and Sirius's shocked faces.
Snape looked equally as shocked, and he stared at both children as if he didn't recognize them.
Hermione smirked at Snape smugly as she and Harry went to the others.
"Now, come on," Hermione said, nodding to Pettigrew and she glared at Snape, "Since you put us in more danger, you're the one carrying rat boy. Otherwise? You can explain that you were the one that let the real traitor of the Potters go and that you let Lily's murderer get away."
The way Snape flinched, like Hermione had actually hit him, made Hermione feel more satisfied than it should have.
And Snape just leaned down and picked Pettigrew off of the floor, still glaring daggers at Sirius.
"Come on Sirius," Harry said, taking Sirius's hand and leading him towards the castle, "Let's go."
Daphne, Astoria, Millicent and Pansy walked over to Hermione staring and grinning. "That was just amazing, Mione," Astoria said.
Hermione smiled and said, "Yeah, well, it wasn't just me. It was Harry too."
Hermione smiled over at Harry and he smiled back.
When they reached the castle, they got through the entrance, getting through the halls, earning a shocked look from Filch, who didn't even try to reprimand them, when he saw Snape.
They reached Dumbledore's office, thanks to Snape knowing the password up to Dumbledore's office and Hermione all but kicked open Dumbledore's doors as they entered.
A very, very curious Dumbledore looked at all of them, both confused and intrigued when saw the cast of characters before him; a proud and confident Hermione and Harry, a bedraggled and weak Sirius, tired and shocked Daphne, Astoria, Millicent and Pansy, an unconscious Pettigrew, and an absolutely fucking done Snape.
"Dumbledore," Hermione said, her voice brooking no room for argument, "We have something to tell you. Also, there's an unconscious werewolf on the school grounds. You might want to go and make sure he's okay and doesn't run off and hurt himself or someone else."
Hermione quickly explained everything and that Peter Pettigrew was the true traitor of the Potters.
And that Remus needed aid, now.
And that Sirius was innocent.
Dumbledore nodded at each of these facts, very interested and his eyes lit up slightly at Astoria, who announced excitedly, looking from Hermione to Harry, "And they can summon patronuses! They destroyed a load of dementors."
Dumbledore smiled, as if pleased and got up from his chair, and told them he would send word out to the rest of the teachers. He went to the various portraits and told them to seek out the other portraits, to wake the rest of the teachers, so that Remus would be contained and kept safe.
As the portraits left, Dumbledore turned back to Hermione and the others. He said, looking at Sirius, "You will be seen innocent in the eyes of the law soon, Sirius. And you will walk a free man."
Harry grinned at Sirius, who looked like he just might faint in relief.
Hermione eyed Snape, watching him.
He looked put out, but said nothing.
As Dumbledore set out to summon the Aurors, Hermione whispered to Snape, "Look, let's just see it this way. You get to see at least one of your bullies suffer," she nodded to Pettigrew.
Snape glared at her. He said, "Don't act like you understand what's happening here, Granger."
"And don't act like I don't know what's happening here," Hermione snapped, glaring at Snape, feeling Daphne, Astoria, Millicent and Pansy watching, "Your angry because Lily ended up with someone else. Well, grow up. That happens a lot. Guess what, Death Eater? You're not entitled to anyone. No one is entitled to another person. And here's an idea? Maybe don't blame Harry, a child for what happened to you. Maybe if you were less of an asshole, then just maybe you'd be liked more. Oh, and don't get in the way of us getting answers from Pettigrew. Or I might just remind the Aurors of your time as a Death Eater."
Hermione glared at Snape with such acid, that Snape didn't say anything else, just looked cowed and stricken, like Hermione had just told him he couldn't run small, cute animals over with a car anymore.
Dumbledore caught their attention, and said that the Aurors were coming and they were coming to hear Sirius and the children's statements. And to get the truth out of Pettigrew.
When the Aurors arrived, Hermione eyed them, but did as they said.
Each of the teenagers were questioned. They told the Aurors what bits they could. It was silently agreed between Hermione, Pansy, Millicent, Astoria and Daphne, that they would not speak a word of the Marauders' map, or of anything they knew about the Chamber of Secrets, amongst other things. And certainly not about Tom.
But they gave a very edited version. Edited enough that the Aurors got the point and that they understood that Pettigrew was to be questioned heavily. And perhaps the case with Sirius Black needed to be looked at with fresh eyes.
The Aurors, took Pettigrew with them and led Harry and Sirius away for new questioning.
Harry looked back at Hermione. She smiled at him. "Good luck," she said.
He nodded to her, smiling back and walked after his godfather and the Aurors.
When the doors closed, Dumbledore dismissed Snape and Hermione said to Snape as he was about to exit, "Let's make something clear, Snape, you want me to forget about what I know? Then you know what? You had better lay off Harry. Leave him alone. Don't pick on him. Don't treat him differently. Just treat him like any other student, or I might just start spreading around the school, how you joined the Death Eaters, all because a girl wouldn't fuck you."
Daphne, Astoria, Millicent and Pansy all gasped, staring at Hermione, shocked.
Hermione felt Dumbledore's eyes on her. If he was troubled by Hermione's threats, he wasn't mentioning it.
Snape said nothing, just sagged and walked out of the room. The doors closed behind him.
Daphne, Astoria, Pansy and Millicent looked at Hermione still like she was the most badass person in the world.
Hermione smiled grimly. She didn't like using gossip to threaten someone. It wasn't a nice feeling. It made her feel a bit icky.
But she wasn't going to let Snape treat Harry like he was dirt any longer. And since Snape hardly had any ground to stand on and say that someone else was garbage, she had just decided to take him down a peg.
She turned to Dumbledore. "What happens to Pettigrew and Sirius now?" She asked.
Dumbledore, who had watched Hermione with intrigue, said, "If Sirius and Harry's statements are satisfactory and Pettigrew is deemed false, Pettigrew will be arrested and brought to trial. And Sirius will be seen an innocent man, and Harry will be able to live with his godfather, if he likes."
Hermione smiled. Well, hopefully some good news.
Hermione had heard about the awful muggles that Harry lived with. The Dursleys. They sounded like the worst type of family members to live with. She hoped Harry got to live with Sirius.
Dumbledore then said, "It's good you saved an innocent life. You might still be able to save another."
Frowning, Hermione looked at Dumbledore, confused. What did he mean by that?
Dumbledore looked at the massive clock in his room and then looked back at Hermione. He said, "A mysterious thing, time. Powerful, but when meddled with, dangerous."
Hermione froze, suddenly realizing where this might be going.
Dumbledore continued, "You know the laws, Ms. Granger. You must not be seen." As the bell toll when the end of the hour arrived, he said, "It would be best you arrived back at the last chime, or the consequences could be too ghastly for me to describe. You can still save the innocent soul you saw executed. Three turns should do the trick," he gave Hermione a small wink, before turning and leaving the room.
"Oh," Dumbledore said, before closing the doors, "When I doubt, I find that the best course is to retrace my steps. Good luck." He closed the doors then.
Hermione sighed as she heard Pansy demand, "What the bloody hell was that about?"
Hermione knew what Dumbledore was talking about, alright.
He knew about it, because McGonagall must have told him what she had given Hermione.
Hell, for all Hermione knew, maybe Dumbledore had told McGonagall to give her the time turner in the first place.
Hermione said, looking at her friends, asking the question that Tom had asked her not that long ago, "How much do all of you trust me?"
This earned her startled looks.
"Mione," Daphne said, "We trust you possibly more than we trust our parents."
Astoria nodded, looking absolutely like she meant it.
Pansy snorted, "Hermione, I think we've made it clear that we trust you way more than we'd trust almost anyone."
Millicent looked aggravated. "You'd actually ask that?" She said in disbelief, smiling.
Hermione smiled back, relieved.
"Alright," she said, "Then come here please."
The four other girls walked over and Hermione reached under her hoodie, pulled out the time turner and began wrapping its thin chain over the other girls' heads, making them become weaved in the time turner as well.
The other girls looked at what Hermione was fiddling with and Pansy's eyes grew huge.
"Is that a-" She began as Hermione started to turn the time turner.
Pansy and the others got their answer only a second later, when figures went by almost like being rewound on one of those VHS tapes that Hermione's mother had. That was how Hermione compared it, whenever she used the time turner. It was like rewinding something on VHS.
When Hermione was finished, she pulled the long chain off of her friends and tucked the time turner back under her jacket.
She watched as comprehension filled her friends' faces.
"We just…..," Daphne said in realization, "Time travel?"
"That would be it, yes," Hermione said, "Now, where were we at 7:30?"
"At Hagrid's, I think," Pansy said.
Hermione nodded, "Right. Let's go. And we can't be seen. We better try to find a way around the courtyard. We don't want the executioner to see us a second time."
Daphne and the others' eyes widened, recalling the executioner being there in the courtyard a few hours ago, leering at them.
Yes, of everyone, the executioner was one of the last people that they'd want to know about them time traveling.
So, they ran out of Dumbledore's room and bolted down the different corridors, making sure to duck behind several pillars whenever anyone went by, they quickly went out one of the ground level windows, getting to the ground and creeping around the outside of the castle, going past the courtyard and going beneath the executioner's notice.
They reached the overlook where the "other them," had run into Malfoy and Malfoy's friends.
The "other Hermione," just pulled out her wand and aimed it at Malfoy.
Hermione whispered as they came to a stop and watched, "The time turner is how I've been covering all the classes. McGonagall gave it to me. Dumbledore must think we can save Buckbeak by doing this."
The "other Hermione" swung around and punched Malfoy right in the face.
And as Malfoy and his friends fled, Hermione and her friends jumped out the ground level window and got to the ground, ducking behind the stone, hearing Malfoy and his friends coming.
Malfoy was naturally, licking his wounds as he whined, saying that his friends had better not say a word of this to anyone.
And he snapped, "I'll get that jumped up-mudblood! Mark my words."
Hermione smirked. (Thanks for the warning, Malfoy), she thought to herself.
When Malfoy and his friends were gone and the "other Hermione, Pansy, Astoria, Daphne and Millicent went down the steps in the direction of Hagrid's hut, only then did the Hermione, Pansy, Astoria, Daphne and Millicent from the future, emerge out from behind the stone barrier and went to the overlook, peering down the steps, seeing Buckbeak. For now, very much alive.
Hermione looked at her friends, seeing their amazement at all this and at what she'd kept from them.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the time turner," she said, and there was so much more she hadn't told them, but that she'd figure out how to tell them about, later, "But if we try, we might just be able to save Buckbeak."
The others nodded.
"Let's go, then," Pansy said, smiling and she, Hermione and the others went down the steps, going to the large pumpkin patch that they and Harry had stayed behind hours ago-or rather, the large pumpkin patch the "other them" were going to stay behind in a few minutes, actually, and they waited.
They saw Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge and the executioner beginning to climb down the long, winding steps.
"Shit," Daphne said, "Dumbledore and Fudge are coming."
Hermione looked at the window and looked at where the "other them" stood inside. "And we're not leaving," Hermione said, frowning, "Why aren't we leaving?"
Hermione tried to think of why they wouldn't be leaving, when she suddenly caught sight of something on top of the pumpkin she was next to.
A black stone. With a shell shape on it.
Hermione picked it up, staring at it. It struck her then, why the "other them," weren't leaving. It was because they hadn't seen Dumbledore and Fudge coming yet, and the only reason they hadn't seen Dumbledore and Fudge coming, was because they hadn't been alarmed by anything and so hadn't looked out the window to spot the Dumbledore, Fudge and the executioner coming.
Which meant, it was time to alert them.
Hermione swung her arm back and threw the stone with all her might at the window of Hagrid's hut.
The stone hit a flowerpot and cracked it open on impact, scaring the "other Hermione."
"What are you doing?!" Millicent hissed, "We're not supposed to be seen!"
"I know, I know," Hermione said, but she knew it was too late for that-she had already seen herself, multiple times, not just in a few minutes when the "other her" looked into the forest and saw a flash of herself and another Pansy and another Millicent and another Astoria and another Daphne, ducking behind the trees, but she had seen herself running around Hogwarts before, using the time turner for classes. So, a bit too late for that.
She then grabbed another stone and chucked it at the window, this one hitting Harry square in the back of his head.
She watched as Harry gripped the back of his head, wincing.
"Sorry, Harry," she said quietly.
Finally, the "other them," was alerted to Dumbledore and Fudge coming and started coming out of the back of the hut.
"We're coming," the future Hermione whispered, and she, and the future Millicent, Pansy, Astoria and Daphne, left the pumpkin patch and went into the forest, going behind several trees.
The "other them," and Harry, went behind the pumpkin patch, the "other Hermione," holding her wand protectively.
Hermione peered out, watchful.
She glanced to the left, seeing Pansy step out, slightly and while Hermione should have known this was going to happen, Pansy stepped the wrong way and a twig snapped under her foot.
Thankfully, Pansy knew to duck behind the tree again, as soon as the twig snapped.
She, Hermione and the others went right back behind the trees as the "other them," whirled around, looking into the dark patch of the woods and the future Hermione, she knew she and the others had just been seen.
"What is it, Hermione?" The "other Daphne" asked the "other Hermione."
"I thought I just saw….never mind," the "other Hermione" said, "Let's go."
The group behind the pumpkin patch slid out from behind the pumpkins and ran to the steps back up away from the hut and away from Buckbeak. Only then did the future Hermione and the others walk out of the woods, and started approaching the bound hippogriff, clearly appearing so unaware of what was planned for it.
The hippogriff eyed them as they got closer, but Hermione, Daphne, Astoria, Millicent and Pansy all bowed, waiting. And Buckbeak soon bowed afterwards.
Pansy grabbed the chain off of the wooden stake and started pulling, but the stubborn Buckbeak wasn't moving.
Hermione looked to where there were several dead ferrets hanging from another stake and went to them, grabbing a bunch.
Hermione brought one out and waved the dead ferret at the hippogriff. That did the trick. The hippogriff lifted himself right off of the ground and followed Hermione happily, staring at the ferrets.
"Come on," she cooed, and Buckbeak happily followed Hermione and the other girls into the forest.
As they stayed behind more trees and Buckbeak obnoxiously tried to get more of the ferrets from Hermione, earning a sigh from her, Dumbledore, Fudge and Hagrid came upon Buckbeak missing. Dumbledore assured Fudge that Buckbeak couldn't have been released by Hagrid, since they had been with Hagrid the whole time, and Fudge said that Buckbeak needed to be searched for.
And the executioner, his services no longer needed, clearly not liking having the chance to cut something's head off, raised his ax and sliced it down into a pumpkin.
Hermione tried not to snort as she and the others ran further into the forest, leading Buckbeak away with more ferrets. Had Dumbledore known this was going to bloody happen?!
"So, where are we supposed to take Buckbeak now that we freed him?" Daphne asked, looking at the hippogriff with uncertainty.
"I have no idea," Hermione confessed.
Because could they just let Buckbeak go? He had been more or less a pet for a long time for a while now.
Would he survive in the wild on his own, without anyone feeding him?
Hermione sighed, looking at Buckbeak. She knew that to a certain extent, hippogriffs understood what people said.
They certainly knew when they were being disrespected.
Malfoy was a testament to that.
But she knew that they couldn't let Buckbeak go. Intelligent or not? Buckbeak was still an animal. And he would go back to Hagrid as soon as he could, knowing he could get food there.
And as soon as he returned to Hagrid, Buckbeak would be executed for real.
They couldn't let Buckbeak roam free. They had to give him to someone who could be trusted and who wouldn't immediately have Cornelius Fudge descend upon them.
But who?
Author's note:
This chapter was really rushed and probably not all that good, sorry, but I really wanted to get to Hermione's fourth year, since really important stuff happens then.